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The Inverse Square Law of Light

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Scientists are getting their first look with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s powerful resolution how the formation of young stars influences the evolution of nearby galaxies. NGC 1365, observed here by Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) is one of a total of 19 galaxies targeted for study by the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby Galaxies (PHANGS) collaboration. In the MIRI observations of NGC 1365, clumps of dust and gas in the interstellar medium has absorbed the light from forming stars and emitted it back out in the infrared, lighting up an intricate network of cavernous bubbles and filamentary shells influenced by young stars releasing energy into the galaxy’s spiral arms. The exquisite resolution from Webb also picks up several extremely bright star clusters not far from the core and newly observed recently formed clusters along the outer edges of the spiral arms. Additionally, the Webb images provide insights into how the orbits of stars and gas vary depending on where they form, and how this results in the population of older clusters outside the inner star-formation ring. NGC 1365 is a double barred spiral galaxy that lies about 56 million light years away from Earth. It’s one of the largest galaxies currently known to astronomers, spanning twice the length of the Milky Way across. MIRI was contributed by ESA and NASA, with the instrument designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in partnership with the University of Arizona.

Audience

Educators

Grade Levels

Grades 5-8, Grades 9-12

Subject

Mathematics, Physical Science, Space Science, Algebra, Waves, Light, Stars

Type

Lesson Plans / Activities

Students measure the relationship between distance and brightness of light. Once students discover the relationship, they can begin to understand how astronomers use this knowledge to determine the distances to stars and faraway galaxies.
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to do the following:

  • Demonstrate that the brightness of a source of light is a function of the inverse square of its distance.
  • Understand how the brightness of light can be used to measure distances, even to stars and faraway galaxies.

The Inverse Square Law of Light  [717KB PDF file]